Although the term, “Proper English”, is itself open for interpretation.

The movement to “standardize” English has always been met with resistance by the very forces which makes English so powerful and unique, and that it is its ability to “innovate”.

Standard English in England would be loosely defined as the “Queens” English, that they mostly speak in West London. The East London variant of English, the “Cockney” variant is considered to be uncouth and undignified, notwithstanding the incredible level of wittiness inherent within that dialect, and the sheer amount of professional entertainers who made a living out of entertaining us with slices of life from that culture. Brooklyn English the same. The snootier types would view that dialect as being lower class and beneath them but in many ways it has a cultural superiority when it comes to truly expressing the wit, needs and wants of a community of people.

In America in the last century a Standard English was developed that was more or less referred to as “Network English”, ie, the way that Walter Cronkite would pronounce English.

In the British Isles over the past 1500 years, as we saw the vested interests based in London, slowly take hegemony over the other parts of the British Isles, we also saw the rich and colorful dialects of the Irish the Scottish Highlanders become watered down, because if these indigenous peoples wanted to engage in proper business then an assimilation process was necessary, thus they would be forced to adapt their pronunciation to accommodate the southern business influences.

Other notable dialects of English include Jamaican English and Newfoundland English. A variant in Singapore showed up decades ago that they call “Singlish”.

In America, the influx of Africans who brought with them their culture and spiritualism, who over 400 hundred years eventually participated in perhaps one of the greatest musical renaissances in human history, that being in the American South in the first half of the 20th century, were also forcibly assimilated into the dominant Caucasian Protestant culture. Southern accents in general are considered, once again, to be uncivilized and uncouth, when all they are is regional dialects.

So I do not criticize the validity of any English dialect, least of all what is considered “proper” English, what is taught in schools, and I do wholeheartedly encourage the literacy level of the entire population, and that which must include a healthy appreciation of classical English literature, but at the same time, being educated in the development of English, I do not criticize those who have adopted a colorful regional dialect of English, and in fact I think our world would be at a great loss to ever lose such a creative contribution to “culture” in general, that which is contributed by communities of peoples, spontaneously and organically evolving of its own natural course over the centuries.

Robert McCrum, who wrote that great PBS series in the 1990’s called “The Story of English”, has come to the conclusion that there really is no “Standard English”, that the language has been so fluid over the millennium that each unique dialect of English is really to be considered valid in and of its own right.

This is why I am never critical of “inner city” ethnic variants of English – in fact I think they colorful and stimulating – but view it more within the lines of diversity, that more of that is better, rather than homogeneity, which is an institutionalized result. This completely within the context of proper education and speaking proper English being the desired virtue, though not the enforced end result of what makes us civilized.

I think it’s worth guarding our thoughts and our words should we ever not make the distinction between proper education, valid regional dialects of English, and the subtleties of being judgmental where a caste oriented society must be encouraged. A free society must be encouraged, one that can be empowered by education, as well as the kind of community creative spontaneity that develops in Burroughs and neighborhoods over the centuries.

That, I believe, is the strength of these communities, far and above over the holier than thou ivory tower crowd, in that their cohesive culture represents families over multiple generations, that each child may know their parents, grand parents and great grand parents at any time within the history of these neighborhoods, that these cultural mores have been in place for countless generations, and are more a part of the social solidity of the people than all of the cultural notions that academia and “proper” society could ever come up with.

NFL football in many ways is the domain of inner city Blacks, thus being its primary virtue.

Next we'll have to discuss why it is that a stratified caste like society such as our own has developed the way that it has, why it seems to require an under educated underclass, and why our society contains structural inequities going back many centuries, and why these inequities must be challenged and removed.

End soapbox and in general a love for the history of English.